A woman from St Albans who ran a brothel has been ordered to pay £67,840 under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Rita Solanki, 40, from Lattimore Road in St Albans, was sentenced at Luton Crown Court in March this year for managing a brothel and money laundering offences. She had pleaded guilty and was given nine months imprisonment.

On Friday, November 2 the case was back at Luton Crown Court for the confiscation hearing.

The brothel was run from a flat in Old Watford Road in Bricket Wood, where workers were based and would pay Solanki a cut of their earnings.

Officers executed warrants at Solanki’s home address and the rented flat during September 2009, where they found evidence relating to the running of a brothel.

Detective Inspector Ian Butler, from Hertfordshire Constabulary’s Economic Crime Unit, said: “This is a positive result and testament to the hard work of officers involved both in the criminal and financial investigations.”

He added: “Organised prostitution of this kind, where other women are recruited and organisers of the brothel exploit them by taking a cut of the money, is a heinous and appalling crime.

“Very often those involved in running the brothel or reaping the benefits are making money from others’ misery – preying on vulnerable people in society who are desperate to earn money and, in some cases, coercing them into prostitution.

“It also creates issues of anti-social behaviour and community tensions for neighbours whose lives are blighted in the areas where the brothels are based.